good morning, everyone, and welcome to "news 4 midday." i'm barbara harrison. it's tuesday, june 21st, 2011. and we're following breaking news in europe this morning. cnbc has confirmed that british teenager has been arrested in connection with a hacker attack on the senate, on sony, the c'ecia, and news corp. the 19-year-old was arrested in his home in england late last night. he's being held at an unnamed police station and his computer is being examined.

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police tell cnbc the hacker is part of a group that claims responsibility for hacking the sony playstation network. it compromised the profiles of more than 70 million users. turning to our weather now, making a little news out there, tom kierein joins us with our first forecast of midday. tom? >> still a cloudy sky in washington. that was a live picture there from the city camera. and the radar scanning the sky, no more rain across virginia, most of maryland, except on the eastern shore, they're getting just a few sprinkles now in right now, central delaware, and right near talbot county, and that's drifting off towards the east. elsewhere, we have some low clouds with us, that are beginning to break up across central virginia. in fact, where the sunshine's broken out in charlottesville, they're up to 81 degrees right now. fredericksburg has some sun. in the upper 70s there. but under the cloud cover, in the low 70s around washington. 73 right now at reagan national. and for the rest of the afternoon, we should see some sunshine breaking out.

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it's going to be rather humid today, and we have the possibility of some late afternoon thunderstorms popping up. before then, we should have our temperatures climbing into the upper 80s by midafternoon on this summer solstice day today. the solstice arrives at 1:16 this afternoon. we'll take a look at tonight, the rest of the week, and the weekend. that will be coming up in just a couple of minutes. barbara? >> thank you, tom. happening right now, a fight between a big business in prince george's county and several hundred cab drivers trying to make a living in a tough economy. kimberly suiters is live at the prince george's county administration building, where a public hearing is going on right now. kimberly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. it boils down to this. one council member fears prince george's county simply can't handle an oversaturation of cab drivers. the cab drivers themselves rallying out here this morning. inside right now, are speaking very passionately about this. they say that council member is dispatching injustice.

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>> independent? >> no! >> reporter: cabbies in prince george's county arguing outside the county administration building, that independents from big cab companies means money in their pockets and out of the politicians'. >> they have given advantage to only one company, and that one company has used that privilege to monopolize and misuse the drivers. >> reporter: he is one of 750 or so cab drivers required to pay $17,000 in annual fees to their cab bosses. nearly half their income. in the face of high gas prices and a fragile economy. >> that is hard on a family of four, taking care of my children for school and raising them and stuff like that. >> reporter: clemen clemente likens the struggle to david and goliath. the latter in his mind is councilman will campos, who wants to limit the number of cab permits. >> we have the potential for close to 1,400, off all this is

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said and done, if the legislation from last year were to pass, or continue if it were supposed to, and that's absolutely ridiculous. there's no need for that much. >> reporter: but the cabbies argue the law letting more of them drive withstood a court challenge already and needs time to play out in the marketplace. they like the law just as it is, and in their minds, the only reason for a change now must be a corrupt one. >> the ability to pay is the strength for the cab companies to resist. >> i don't blame them for being upset at me. but the fact of the matter is, what i'm doing is fair. now, there are relationships that need to be -- >> reporter: fair to the cab driver or fair to the cab driving company? >> no, fair to the system. >> reporter: campos himself says this law was originally pushed through for political reasons, so he's claiming that same argument that the law is flawed in the first place. this hearing is expected to last all afternoon. a decision could be made before the august recess. reporting in prince george's county, i'm kimberly suiters, news 4. barbara, now back to you. >> thank you, kimberly.

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mayor vincent gray is facing a series of investigations over his hiring practices. and now evidence from one is before a grand jury. according to the "washington examiner," a grand jury began hearing evidence in april from a u.s. attorney investigation of gray. that investigation centers around accusations made by suleman brown. brown charges he was paid by gray's campaign to bash former mayor adrian fenty and was promised a job in the administration. and today the d.c. council is expected to confirm kaya henderson as a permanent chancellor of the district public schools. she has served as interim chancellor since michelle rhee resigned back in december. some parents criticized the selection process at a hearing last week, questioning why there was ant nationwide search and called the confirmation rubber stamping. mayor gray nominated henderson for the permanent position back in march. a crime alert in northern virginia. police say a mob is terrorizing a neighborhood in prince william

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county. investigators say a group robbed a pizza delivery man on mathews drive in woodbridge on saturday night. medics rushed the man to the hospital with severe injuries. around the same time, a group attacked two men on jefferson davis highway. police don't know if the same group was responsible for both attacks. well, soon prince william county residents will have to pay for an emergency ride to the hospital. the county is joining several other area jurisdictions in charging ambulance fees. starting july 1st, the county will charge $400 to $700 per ride to patients who are taken to the hospital in a county ambulance. a mileage rate will be added to that at $10 per mile. patients' health insurance companies will then get billed for the expenses. the county expects to bring in an estimated $3 million in revenue a year from those ambulance fees. well, it's a tragic accident unlike anything this rural stafford county community have seen before.

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police say an 11-year-old girl was killed when a car hit the horse she was riding. it happened on mt. olive road, just as it was getting dark on sunday evening. yasmin deliane was riding the horse through a field when it got spooked and started running down the street. moments later, an suv struck the horse, throwing yasmin to the road. she died several hours later at the hospital. friends say speeding has become a problem on that road. >> i used to walk up and down this treat myself. now, since new neighborhoods and everything have built up, i guess cars just don't have that sense of going slow. they just barrel down the highway. i mean, going -- sometimes 45, 50 miles an hour. >> yasmin had just finished the fourth grade at hampton oaks elementary school. our time right now, seven minutes after 11:00. coming up, a new republican candidate announces he's running for president. what he says needs to be done for this country. and the first lady is on her biggest solo foreign trip so far. what's on her itinerary and the message she's trying to spread.

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after today, congressman anthony weiner will be known as former congressman anthony weiner. he sent resignation letters to new york's attorney general and the two top house leaders late last night. his two cents resignation is expected to be read on the house floor today. in it, he says it's been an honor to serve the people of brooklyn and queens.

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his resignation follows a swift fall from grace when the congressman admitted to sending half-naked pictures of himself to several women and then lying publicly and repeatedly to try to cover it up. his spot in the house will remain empty until a special election can be held. president obama's working on his plan to bring u.s. troops home from afghanistan. he's expected to announce his plan tomorrow. the troop withdrawal is due to begin in july. the blueprint will also give afghans control of their security in the year 2014. u.s. troops have been in afghanistan for nearly ten years now. the pentagon says just over 1,600 americans have been killed there. following the announcement, the president will travel to ft. drum on thursday to meet with troops. that new york army base is home to the tenth mountain division, one of the most frequently deployed divisions to afghanistan and iraq. twin suicide bombings killed 22 people today in iraq. it happened in twinya, which is about 80 miles south of baghdad.

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iraqi officials say the attacks happened at a checkpoint outside a government compound. two cars loaded with explosives were detonated as guards were changing shifts. more than 30 people were hurt. authorities believe most of the victims were bodyguards. the bombing comes as iraqi officials consider asking some u.s. troops to stay in iraq beyond the december 31st withdrawal deadline to help with security. at least 44 people are dead in a plane crash on a russian highway, including a family of four with dual u.s./russian citizenship. russian officials say they believe the failure of runway lights, pilot error, and bad weather all contributed to the crash. the plane operated by russ air was about to land in northwest russia when it slammed into the highway about a half mile short of the runway. eight people did survive, but all are in the hospital in critical condition. heavy fog was reported in the

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area at the time of the crash. and now to decision 2012. another republican has thrown his hat into the race. less than an hour ago, former utah governor john huntsman announced his candidacy for the republican presidential nomination. >> we must reignite the powerful job-creating engine of our economy. the industry, innovation, reliability, and trail-blazing genius of americans and their enterprises and restore confidence in our people. we can and will own the future. >> huntsman says he will run a campaign that is based on who will be a better president, not a better american. he chose the same spot that ronald reagan used to announce his candidacy back in 1980. the former governor says that this generation could be the first in history to pass down a country that is not as competitive as the last generation. huntsman is the eighth republican candidate to

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officially enter the race. and right now, first lady michelle obama is in the middle of a trip to africa. it's her first major solo trip overseas, and it came with a surprise just hours ago. the first lady was visiting nelson mandela's foundation when the former south african president said he wanted to meet her and her two daughters. it was her first meeting with the prisoner turned president. nbc's kristen welker has more on this historic trip. >> reporter: michelle obama arrived in patoria monday night. the president wasn't with her, but she wasn't alone, her daughters, niece, nephew, and mother also on this sub-saharan trip. they got a very warm welcome. they got african blankets to guard them from south african's winter chill. the first daughter have said abroad before. earlier this year, they accompanied the president to brazil. they met the queen at buckingham palace, but this might be their greatest foray on to the world

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stage. >> they are celebrities. it will be very nice to see the first children of america come in to south africa and actually interacting with -- we've never -- you know, the continent has never had that chance. >> reporter: the red carpet will also be rolled out for marion robinson, the first grandmother, who lives at the white house and helps take care of her granddaughters. but most of the attention will be for mrs. obama, america's first african-american first lady visiting her ancestral continent. >> it's very, very, very exciting. >> i think it's very motivating for young, black women. >> reporter: during her week-long trip, mrs. obama will promote youth leadership, education, and hiv/aids awareness. and she will pay tribute to south africa's most iconic figure, a tour of the nelson mandela foundation. she'll also visit robin island, the infamous jail where mandela was imprisoned for nearly 20 years. his punishment for fighting against the racially oppressive

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system of apartheid. >> it's meaningful for africans and south africans who have gone through this long racial struggle. >> reporter: this is mrs. obama's second official solo trip abroad. last year she visited mexico, and earthquake-ravaged haiti. but she also raised eyebrows for a lavish private summer vacation with her daughter, sasha, to spain, amongst negative economic news. this week will likely draw a different kind of attention. >> the crowds listening to her speeches are only going to be focused on her. and so it is really her chance to have a global platform. >> reporter: a journey for the obama ladies that will resonate on two continents half a world apart. >> that was kristen welker reporting. and tom's here now to talk a little bit about our weather. but you can't help but note they're in wintertime down there in south africa. >> in the southern hemisphere, these are the days of the longest nights is in the

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northern hemisphere, these are the days of the longest day. the longest daylight hours, as we have the solstice two hours away from us here at 11:16 in the morning. we still have quite a bit of cloudiness over washington, but this live picture showing some breaks in the clouds. the cloud cover is beginning to break up as well across much of the region. and as a result, we are having a little sunshine breaking out. right now, 73 at reagan national, where the summer solstice is occurring just about two hours from now. and it will give us our longest sunrise to sunset time, 14 hours and 53 minutes today, and just about the same tomorrow. right now on radar, not picking up anymore rain, after a few morning light showers and sprinkles came through, over around the eastern shore, they still have a few sprinkles in delaware and salisbury near the eastern part of the shore. from fredericksburg to charlottesville, and points up near the shenandoah valley, they're getting some sunshine and there and temperatures are

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warming as well to near 80. but east of the blue ridge, still quite cloudy, and under the clouds, we're in the low 70s now throughout much of the region. right now, sunshine in southern virginia. they're climbing to near 80 degrees there, as well as out of the mountains of west virginia and western maryland, they're in the mid- and upper 70s. and over the last 12 hours, we've had a weak disturbance coming through. we can still see these low clouds here, but there are breaks in the clouds with sunshine throughout much of virginia and into west virginia. some other showers may make their way into west central west virginia in the next couple of hours. and our flow in the atmosphere aloft has been from the north and west here the last couple of days, but it's going to switch and change into the southwest here, out ahead of an area of low pressure that's here in the upper midwest. as a result, we'll get more heat and more humidity beginning to move in later today and into tomorrow. and going forward, over next 48 hours, we'll begin to see as that flow does move more southerly and southwesterly, we'll have an increased chance of maybe some showers tomorrow morning and maybe some afternoon storms tomorrow in the heat and humidity.

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and it's going to be lingering with us. heat and humidity all the way into the end of the week and the first part of the weekend. so far this tuesday, a little sunshine breaking out this afternoon, as temperatures climb into the mid- and upper 80s in many locations, and we have the possibility of some scattered isolated storms developing here by late afternoon. any storms that do get going will be perhaps around early evening. it will be rather humid as well. we'll have our temperatures in the low 80s, early evening, then down into the upper 70s by midnight. and by dawn tomorrow, still clouds around, and a small chance of a shower in the morning. but then during the afternoon, as we climb to around 90 or so, we'll have an increased chance of maybe a few scattered storms around tomorrow afternoon and early evening. otherwise, partly sunny tomorrow. then on thursday, looks like it may be a little bit hotter. perhaps low to maybe even mid-90s for a brief time tomorrow afternoon, and partly cloudy. a smaller chance at maybe some isolated storms late in the day. and more of the same on friday, although maybe a little bit

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cooler on friday by five degrees or so. and we'll have it still humid. as we get into the weekend, looks like saturday will be partly cloudy with morning lows in the 60s, afternoon highs in the mid-80s. and we're going to have a front coming through, does look like over the weekend, that may trigger some afternoon thunderstorms on saturday. after that, front goes by, we should turn less humid on sunday and into monday. both of those days, morning lows in the 60s. afternoon highs, mid-80s, pleasant, and partly cloudy. and that is the way it looks. a break from the heat and humidity by the end of the week. >> that's good news. thanks a lot, tom. see you again shortly. still ahead on "news 4 midday," the most significant change to cigarette packs in 25 years. we'll take a look at the graphic new labels. plus, avoiding poison ivy. what to look for and what to stay away from. first, here's a look at what's first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

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happy birthday, prince william. he turns 29 today. there will be no big royal celebration, though. it will be a low-key day compared to his april wedding to kate middleton. the prince is a royal air force helicopter search and rescue pilot. he'll be on duty and is expected to mark his birthday privately. well, we have a story to tell you about some excitement and joy for kids around our area, because this is the last day of school for some. but today is the last day that

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is a very emotional one for families in a school in fairfax. that's because once the children leave, in about a half hour, they'll never be going back. clifton elementary in clifton, virginia, will close its doors for good at the end of this month. news 4's tracee wilkins has more on the school's emotional last day. >> reporter: since 1912, there has been a school sitting on this hilltop to educate the folks of clifton, but now the fairfax county school board has decided it's time to go ahead and close the school's doors. it's the last day of school and the last day for this school. clifton elementary will soon be a once-was in the history of fairfax county schools. >> we have about 2 1/2 hours left of the clifton school year, and i just want to cram as much memories as i can. >> reporter: the fairfax county school board decided to close clifton, citing projected enrollment declines and high per-pupil renovation costs as

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the reason. the community says they're not buying that. >> to base a community's existence, and the heart of a community's future on sketchy numbers is, i think, very poor leadership. >> reporter: for that very reason, parent elizabeth schultz has decided to run for the school board seat in the springfield district. that may help in the future, but for now, clifton is losing its only elementary school. >> i think to leave 40 square miles of fairfax county, which is a tenth of the geography without a single public school is unconscionable. >> reporter: the community filed lawsuits to try to save the school, but in the end, the virginia supreme court upheld the county's decision to close it. it's a confusing state of affairs for many of the students. >> i just want to see that our friends don't get broken up, because my best friends are getting broken up. other friendships are getting broke up, and i just want to see that not happen. >> reporter: there's still one more lawsuit out there, and elizabeth, like many parents, is

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hoping clifton still stands a chance. >> they seem to not be able to acknowledge that there's a very precedential case still in court. >> reporter: there are some parents holding out hope that lawsuit will overturn the decision. there's also a decision to try to turn this building into a charter school next year that focuses on chinese language and culture, but there's no final decision on whether that's going to happen. today, school closed early because it was the last day of school. in clifton, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. controversy surrounds a tweet after one of the stars of mtv's "jackass" died in a car crash. ryan dunn and his passenger died after his porsche slammed into a guardrail and hit a tree outside of philadelphia. a few hours before the crash,

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dunn tweeted this picture of himself and two friends drinking. when news broke of his death, roger ebert tweeted, "friends don't less jackasses drink and drive." friends of dunn tweeted that they just lost their friend and don't care about ebert's two cents. dunn was 34 years old. >> have you yelled at ryan for speeding? >> i yelled at him for lots of things. >> he tweeted a picture of himself drinking just hours before the accident. what do you make of that? >> he was not a big drinker. he was always responsible. >> with drinking and driving? >> as far as i know, he was. i can't imagine that he would do that. >> police are still investigating the crash. ryan's family are flying in to make funeral arrangements. they released a statement to nbc news to say that they are devastated by the loss and that ryan will be greatly missed, lu forever be in the hearts of his family.

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our time is now 11:27. coming up in the next half hour of "news 4 midday," the busy storm season rages on. caught on tape, twisters spawned by a system that halted play at the college world series. is more rain on the way? we'll find out from tom kierein. and a mother accused of threatening a baseball coach's family after her son failed to

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right now on "news 4 midday," another republican has thrown his hat into the race. less than an hour ago, former utah governor john huntsman announced his candidacy for the republican presidential nomination. he's the eighth republican candidate to officially enter the race. today is congressman anthony weiner's last day in office. his resignation is expected to be read on house floor. he resigned after admitting to sending half-naked pictures of himself to women, and then lying publicly and repeatedly to try to cover it up. the midwest is cleaning up from severe weather today. take a look at this. this is one of several monster tornados that touched down in nebraska. the twisters destroyed at least three homes and tossed around freight train cars.

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no one was seriously hurt. when sirens went off in omaha, baseball officials suspended play at the college world series. games will pick back up later today. in the southwest, firefighters hope more humidity in the forecast will help them battle several wildfires today. in texas, strong winds have fanned flames just outside houston. authorities ordered some 1,800 people to evacuate their homes. lighter winds helped crews get the upper hand with at least three major fires in arizona. now about 10,000 people can only wait for word that it's safe to return to their homes. that wait is frustrating for a lot of folks. >> i just want to know if my house burn ed down. i thought maybe they would know. >> wildfires have destroyed about 4 million acres in the u.s. just this year. as for how the southwest wildfires started, arizona senator john mccain is defending

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statements that illegal immigrants are partly responsible. the republican told the "today" show he did not make the comments for a political reason. >> we all know that people who come across our border illegally, according to the forest service, according to border patrol, according to the local sheriffs and law enforcement agents, that these fires are sometimes, some of them, have been caused by this. and so, again, i'm puzzled over that there should be any controversy, since the forest service is on record as saying exactly what i just repeated, because i had been briefed on that, just an hour or so before the press conference that we held. >> immigrant rights advocates say senator mccain is using illegal immigrants as scapegoats. authorities have said humans did start the three major fires during -- that are burning right now in arizona, but they don't know exactly how, yet, or who is to blame. let's check in again with tom kierein on our weather.

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see if there's any rain right on top of us out there. it looks like it, tom. it's so overcast. >> no, no rain around. in fact, we're getting some sunshine beginning to break out. here's a live picture from the sky watcher camera, and we're looking into arlington now. a little bit of blue sky there, they're getting some sunshine. and around much of the reason, temperatures are beginning to hit the mid- and upper 70s. it's near 80 there are from southern maryland to fredericksburg to charlottesville and into the shenandoah valley, where they've had more sun. and over the last 12 hours, we've had some of these light showers this morning, but those are now dissipating. as the afternoon progresses, a partly sunny afternoon. highs reaching the mid- and upper 80s. and then a possibility of a passing thunderstorm later this afternoon, early this evening. and then tomorrow, hotter, more humid. could get some afternoon storms, maybe a morning shower, a small chance of that. and on thursday, we've got a smaller chance of any afternoon storms, as well as on friday, still hot and humid both days. into the weekend, saturday looking partly sunny with highs in the mid- and upper 80s. still rather humid.

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maybe an afternoon storm, but turning less humid and a bit cooler on sunday and monday. both days, highs in the mid-80s and partly cloudy. barbara? >> all right, thank you, tom. in the days ahead, big changes are in store for cigarette packaging. the food and drug administration is set to release nine new warning labels for cigarette packs. the labels will depict in graphic detail of negative health effects of tobacco use. cigarette makers have until the fall of next year to comply. the murder trial for casey anthony is back in session. yesterday's session was cut short over legal bickering between the prosecution and the defense. much of the frustration stems from saturday. the judge ruled the defense did not share planned testimony from a forensics expert with the prosecution, which is required by law. the judge says both sides have tried to get around certain rules. he scolded the the lawyers and then called a recess without letting even one witness

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testify. >> yes, there have been gamesmanship in this particular case, and it is quite evident that there is a friction between attorneys. enough is enough. >> judge perry also warned both sides they may face punishment when the trial is over. casey anthony is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. this morning, pregnant d.c. firefighters are upset at a new policy that forces them to take unpaid leave when they need the money the most, they say. under the new policy started in march, pregnant firefighters and paramedics can only have 30 days of working a light shift or desk job. after that, they must use sick days or accrued leave. in the past, pregnant members could work those shifts for longer time periods. >> it's causing problems as far as paying bills, keeping up with

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our health insurance and everything that we need to do. >> but it's been very stressful, and they sprung this on us. >> don't have enough leave to cover the rest of my pregnancy, and then after having the baby. so i have to work. >> the d.c. fire department says it's a legal cost-cutting move to cut down on overtime and limited light duty slots available. but that possible is different from the police department and other agencies. d.c. council public safety chairman phil mendelson told fire officials to reverse the policy or he will. if you're a pepco customer, you might be seeing some improvement, but expect it to be a few years down the road before you see any major improvements. the "washington examiner" reports that pepco's ceo, joe rigby, said that the utility will be a top-performing electric company, but not for another two or three years. the company has been under fire for prolonged power outages

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during severe weather. pepco called our newsroom this morning to let us know that they are committed to doing anything and everything to be the best utility for their customers. fairfax county police are looking for a stolen motorcycle, and this isn't just any ordinary motorcycle. it was just about to be adorned with purple hearts as a tribute to fallen military members. this is video of the crime in progress. the stolen motorcycle being driven out of an apartment building parking garage. it's the 100th anniversary special edition harley davidson. the owner is a 30-year member of the army national guard. he was making plans to turn his purple motorcycle into a patriotic tribute, complete with images of the purple heart. >> dedicated to all of the service members that have either died or wounded in war. >> someone either heard, because it's very loud, or saw this take place, and they'll call police with information. >> between 30 and 40 motorcycles

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have been stolen so far this year in fairfax county. they've become more popular since gas prices have been going up. little league is supposed to be about sportsmanship, teamwork, and of course, having fun. but, apparently, police say that was not the case in east meadow, new york. one mom was so upset her son didn't make the team that police say she fired off a bunch of nasty letters, threatening a little league official and his family, even accusing him of child abuse. peter alexander has more. >> reporter: when her son didn't make this summer travel baseball team, police say janet schiazu struck out. in a chilling number of letters, she threatened a little league official she held responsible for her son's fate. "i know where your wife works and where your son goes to school and your son's everyday routine." and according to police, it didn't end there. >> "tell your kids and wife to

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watch themselves, especially at night. i don't care what it takes. i'll make your life and your family's life a living hell. these are not just words and empty threats." >> reporter: arrest on saturday night, she's been charged with stalking, falsely reporting an incident, and endangering the welfare of a child. in the letters, she allegedly went as far as addressing the little league's official school-aged son, writing, "if something terrible happens to your dad or mom or sister, you can blame your dad for not taking these threats seriously." in another letter sent to the school of the official's kids, police say she accused him of verbal and physical abuse. the charges were investigated by police and dismissed. >> she's regretful that she's been placed under arrest, but, obviously, she feels strongly that her family has been wronged. >> reporter: on the field last night, the east meadow mustangs played ball, but this case had clearly hit home. >> there's just nothing justifiable to behave that way,

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as a human being, towards anyone. >> reporter: parental bad behavior at youth sports is nothing new, where tempers can boil over in the heat of the moment. but if true, these allegations are particularly troubling, says psychologist gail saltz. >> this is a very thought through, premeditated, elongated process that went on. and in a way, i find that to be more disturbing. >> reporter: outside of the schuziao house last night, her attorney spoke on behalf of the family. >> she's a pta mom, the dad's been involved in coaching and volunteering for many years, in a variety of different capacities. so the allegation s are shockin, to say the least. >> that was nbc's peter alexander reporting. 11:41 is our time now. still ahead on "news 4 midday," why this man is driving his horse-powered wagon into the nation's capital. and it's part of summer, poison ivy.

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how to avoid and then treat, if you get into it, the pain

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it was a man who was bringing a real horse and buggy, that's right, a horse and wagon act to capitol hill this week. he's 69 years old, his name is ralph casey. he's a veteran and semi-retired businessman from the horseshoe industry.

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for the past several weeks, he's been traveling nearly 600 miles by horse-drawn wagon from chatsworth, georgia. on wednesday, he plans to try to meet with lawmakers to ask them what they're doing to help small businesses. he says politicians have lost touch with the everyday people out there, and after his visit to the hill, casey says he wants to present his two horses as gifts to president obama's daughters. well, may home sales sank to their lowest point this year. we're going to check in now with cnbc's julia boorstin. she joins us live with more on that and she's got the rest of the day's business headlines today too. >> hello, barbara. stocks are rising for the fourth straight day, extending their gains this morning after existing home sales fell less than forecast, and amid expectations of an upcoming solution for greece to avoid a debt default. let's take a look t@how stocks are trading. the nasdaq has turned positive if the year. the dow is up about 1%, up 111 on thes. the nasdaq up nearly 2%, 50 points, and the s&p 500 higher

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by 1.3%. the national association of home real tors said home sales sunk by 1.8% last month. the decrease was not as deep as some had forecast. and a key vote is scheduled today in greece at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. if the government wins the confidence vote, it can more easily push through cost-cutting measures needed to get its next installment of emergency loans. despite questions about the health of the economy, analysts expect corporate earnings growth to remain strong, forecasting second quarter growth of 14% for operating earnings per share for s&p 500 companies. we'll start to hear most of those earnings results coming up next month. so, barbara, let's hope that this good news can continue and we can continue our now four-day-long winning streak. back over to you. >> let's hope so. thanks a lot, jul. have a great day. today is the first day of summer, and with it comes some common summer problems. in addition to the and unthe bugs, poison ivy can be a big problem for anyone who likes to

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spend time outdoors. dr. cheryl burgess is here to let us know how to recognize the problem and treat it. good to see you. >> you as well. >> this is a problem for many of us. it wasn't a problem for me, and then i developed a sensitivity. i think that happens to a lot of people. >> it does. and poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac is very prevalent in this area. >> maybe that's why i developed it, after growing up in an area where there wasn't a lot of it. let's take a look at it. one of the most important things is to be able to recognize the plants when you see them. >> right. and we have this saying, leaves of three, let them be. so there's usually a cluster of three leaves, like you see on the screen, and poison oak has also roughly three leaves. and poison sumac actually has more than three leaves. it can be up to 11 leaves. there's poison oak. has little pointy leaves.

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>> and these plants emit a resin that people are allergic to. and the interesting thing about it is it cross-reacts with mangos as well. so if you ever become allergic to mangos, you're probably also allergic to poison ivy. >> wow. i've never heard of people being allergic to eating mangos. >> the root plant, though, is prevalent in this area and sometimes hiker will take a stick and scrape the leaf and if the leaf turns back, that is evidence that it is one of those plants. some ways to prevent the interaction or the contact dermatitis is to use soap suds, you lather up soap and put it on the body -- >> before you go out? >> before you go out. sometimes that can be irritating, but that's sometimes what the hikers will do. also, once you come in contact with it, you need to wash it with soap and water immediately.

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>> i've heard that you should use cold water and not hot water. is that right? >> it really doesn't matter. it's more getting the resin off of the skin, and sometimes the resin sticky, so in most cases, warm water is actually a little bit better to get it off. but keep in mind, your pets, if they waddle through poison i'vy oak, or sumac and get the resin on their fur and you pet their fur, you can get it transferred on to you. >> are some soaps better than others for getting the resin off of your skin? >> not really. just a lathering soap will get it off of the skin. >> and how quickly do you need to remove it if you think you've come in contact with it? >> usually within 30 minutes. >> you have 30 minutes? >> you have a little time or significant amount of time to realize, oh, i came in contact with it, let me go and wash it off. we do see that. if it doesn't, if you're unaware of it and it does cause a reaction, it generally forms big blisters.

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>> and it spreads? >> it spreads, however, it starts in the area where the contact was, and it looks more like a sweeping reaction, because most people will walk past it, but for the most part, you may get reactions under the clothing area, which you know you didn't come in contact under the clothing area. it's more of a hypersensitivity reaction. now your body is hypersensitive to the area where you had it on the, say, the leg or the arm where you brushed across it. that may require systemic steroid treatment to resolve the reaction. >> and quickly, one more question, can you give it to someone else? if you have poison ivy, can you touch them -- >> no, the blisters are not contagious. >> all right. that dispels some people's notions about that. >> right. >> what about -- can you put something on to prevent it? just the soap? >> once it reacts, with there are typical steroids and systemic steroids that you can

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use to treat it. >> okay. >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> try to stay out of that poison ivy. and it is now 11:50. coming up, who la toya jackson says murdered her brother michael. plus, meteorologist tom kierein will be back with with the latest on our chance for a

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in her new memoir, la toya jackson talks about her relationship with her brother, michael, and her own insights into his untimely death. this morning on the "today" show, she told matt lauer that michael feared he was going to be assassinated. >> he was very afraid, and he said it was just a matter of time. he knew that it was going to happen. but when he first told me, i was -- michael, come on, that can't be true. and i didn't truly understand it in the beginning. but the more he explained it, the more i understood -- >> la toya says michael believed people were after his music library of about 750,000 songs. she also calls dr. conrad murray a fall guy in the interview and not the person who actually murdered michael. tonight on nbc's hit show, "the voice," four more singers will move on in the competition. they'll make up the final eight who have to battle it out for a spot in next week's finals. nbc's mark barger has a preview of the expected drama. ♪ i know they're watching,

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they're watching ♪ >> reporter: for the performers on team cee lo -- >> it's tough, it's really tough. >> reporter: and team adam, a week of waiting ends tonight. >> it's all in america's hands now. so i give it to them and i just hope it was enough. >> reporter: that audience vote is already over for this week, and just as it did last tuesday -- >> beverly mcclellan! >> reporter: it will save one performer from each teem. >> dia frampton! >> it's amazing to know people actually take time to call for you. >> reporter: but the power to save one other performer also rests with each coach. >> i'm going to pick xenia. >> reporter: blake shelton went through it last week. so did christina aguilera. >> frenchie. >> reporter: tonight, it's decision time for adam levine and cee lo green. >> i'm very excited to see how it all turns out. >> reporter: and that goes double for the competitors.

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>> everything from here is icing on the cake. >> if it ended today, i would have to be very thankful for the opportunity i've been given. >> how could i ask for anything more? i'm basically getting to live my dream. >> reporter: four singers will see that dream last a little while longer tonight. mark barger, nbc news. >> aside from the competition drama, adam levine and fellow judge christina aguilera will perform with levine's band maroon 5 tonight. you can catch two hours of "the voice" here at 9:00, followed by news 4 at 11:00. let's take a look at some of the stories we're following on news 4 this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us in the newsroom with a preview of things to come. >> couple today on news 4 at 4:00, a new documentary about the group, a tribe called quest premieres in our area this week. one of the group's member and the director talks about this movie. and tonight at 5:00, family friendly events on the cheap. we'll tell you how a local

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mother is using this website to help track down the best deals directed towards your kids. those stories and all the day's latest news and the our hot, sultry summer weather, coming up tonight at 4:00. >> thank you so much. we'll be watching you. let's check on our hot, sultry summer weather with tom kierein, who's with us right now. tom? >> it has turned more humid, and it's going to be a rather humid afternoon, but it's going to get even more hotter and humid tomorrow. sun beginning to break out over the landscape. a live picture there from our sky watcher camera looking into montgomery county. later today, as we climb out of the 70s and into the upper 80s, we do have a possibility of an isolated thunderstorm popping up, but no storms in the vicinity now. and we will have a possibility of maybe a morning shower on wednesday, but an afternoon storm is more likely on wednesday. more humid tomorrow, up into the low 90s. low and mid-90s perhaps on thursday, and there's a smaller chance of an afternoon or evening storm. and then on friday, pearl cloudy, highs upper 80s to near

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90. could get an afternoon storm. more of the same on saturday. but right now, sunday and monday looking like we'll have lower humidity and cooler temperatures, highs in the mid-80s, and partly cloudy both days. that's the way it looks. we'll see you tomorrow morning. >> okay. thank you, tom. and that's "news 4 midday" for today. we thank you for being with us and invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, and tonight at 11:00. and i'll be back tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. with news 4 midday. hope you'll plan to join us for that. until then, have a terrific day and we'll see you in the morning.